Yak & Yeti brings something different to Owensboro
Photos by Jamie Plain
For diners who have never tried Himalayan cuisine, Khem Raj Tamang has a simple place to start: the dumplings.
At Yak & Yeti Himalayan Cuisine, they are called momos — handmade dumplings rooted in Nepalese cuisine and filled with chicken, paneer, or even yak. They can arrive steamed, fried, or tossed in a chili sauce.
They are also one example of what makes the restaurant unlike nearly anything else diners will find in Owensboro.
“We have Himalayan and Indian cuisine — mixed, fusion food,” said Tamang, owner of the restaurant. “Not only typical Himalayan, not only typical Indian. We have both mixed in the food.”
Yak & Yeti, located at 611 Emory Drive in Wesleyan Park Plaza, combines the spices and curries associated with Indian cuisine with dishes and cooking traditions from Nepal and the Himalayan region. The result is a menu that stretches from butter chicken and lamb korma to chow mein, fried rice, and momos.
Tamang is a native of Nepal who has spent more than two decades in the hospitality and restaurant industry. The Owensboro restaurant is the third Yak & Yeti location for Tamang and his partners, joining restaurants in Evansville and Fishers, Indiana.
Tamang said customers from the Owensboro area were making the trip to Evansville for their food, giving the team reason to believe there was a market for the concept closer to home.
“Everybody loves our food. They keep on coming back up to Evansville to have our food,” Tamang said. “So why not move here to Owensboro?”
The team looked at multiple properties around town before choosing the building in Wesleyan Park Plaza, just off Frederica Street.
Since opening, Tamang said the response has reinforced that decision.
He said one of the most encouraging signs has been seeing the same faces return — sometimes every week — after trying the food for the first time.
“The food we serve is typically different because of the spices we use for the food,” he said. “People like our food. When they have our curries, they love it.”
Part of making those unfamiliar flavors approachable is giving diners control over the experience.
Many dishes can be ordered at different spice levels, allowing someone new to Indian or Himalayan cuisine to ease into the flavors while giving more adventurous diners the chance to turn up the heat.
“Everybody is choosing these spices in their own way,” Tamang said.
While Indian cuisine may be more recognizable to many local diners, Tamang said the Himalayan half of Yak & Yeti’s identity offers an opportunity to experience dishes that may be completely new to them.
“Himalayan food typically reflects Nepalese food,” he said.
That includes chow mein — which Tamang describes as a distinct Nepalese take on noodles — along with fried rice and momos.
The dumplings in particular are a point of pride.
“You can find dumplings in the market, but the ones we make are totally different,” Tamang said. “We have handmade dumplings that we call momos.”
The Indian side of the menu offers an equally broad selection, with chicken, lamb, goat, and vegetarian dishes alongside familiar options such as butter chicken, korma, curry, and freshly prepared naan.
Tamang’s experience with different styles of cooking goes well beyond the cuisine he serves today.
He said his career has included work in a variety of restaurants and hotels, including five-star properties, and exposed him to American, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese cooking.
After spending years working for others, Tamang eventually decided it was time to take that experience and build something of his own.
“I’ve been working a lot for others, so why not do it by myself?” he said.
Tamang describes the restaurant business as one filled with “ups and downs,” but success in Evansville and Fishers gave the team confidence to try another market. Owensboro offered another advantage: Yak & Yeti brings a style of restaurant largely absent from the local dining landscape.
The restaurant’s name itself offers another connection to Tamang’s homeland.
Yak are long-haired animals adapted to life in the cold, high-altitude environments of the Himalayan region. Tamang remembers eating yak meat in Nepal and said the animal immediately connects the restaurant to the part of the world its food represents.
The “Yeti,” meanwhile, comes from the legendary creature associated with the Himalayas.
“It represents our Nepalese culture and tradition,” Tamang said. “That’s why I decided to name it Yak & Yeti.”
Tamang is already thinking about ways the Owensboro location could grow. The property includes outdoor space, and he said the team is considering adding patio dining in the future if customer demand supports it.
For now, though, his attention remains on the food and the people walking through the doors.
Tamang said the restaurant has attracted diners from Owensboro’s Indian and other international communities, some of whom already know the dishes well, along with customers experiencing Himalayan cuisine for the first time. Both groups, he said, have helped make the first months in Owensboro rewarding.
“Thank you so much for everyone — for Indian communities, all the American people, all the Owensboro residents,” Tamang said. “I’m very happy for them having us here, and they keep loving us. They keep coming with us.”
For Tamang, that’s ultimately what the expansion was about: giving Owensboro something it didn’t already have and hoping people would be willing to try it. So far, he said, they have.
“Everybody likes us,” Tamang said. “Most important, people love us much. We are very happy for that.” OL
